High-humidity compartment for refrigerators

ABSTRACT

A high-humidity compartment, disposed in the bottom of the refrigerator compartment of a combination freezer-refrigerator, employs a drawer surrounded by a spaced sleeve. In order to permit the use of roller-type suspension so that the drawer can slide freely in and out, the sleeve is sealed against the side, back and front walls of the drawer. Into the space therebeneath cold air, whose flow is controlled by a damper, is ducted from the freezer compartment and bathes the bottom wall and the lower portions of the side and backwalls of the drawer, the air exiting from the sleeve to join the air from the refrigerator compartment returning to the freezer compartment.

United States Patent [111 3,600,905

{72] Inventors Theodore I". Dymek; 2,960,849 I l/l960 O'Connell 62/382Herbert D. Neudeclt. botholCedar Rapids, 3,077,749 2/I963 Jung r 62/382Iowa 3,364,694 [/1968 Cohen 62/382 [2] I P Primary Examiner- William J.Wye

[22] Filed Attorneys-41mm E Simmons and James C Nemmers [45] PatentedAug. 24, I971 [73] Assignee Amalia Refrigeration, lnc.

Amalia. lava {54] HIGH-HUMIDITY COMPARTMENT FOR ABSTRACT: Ahigh-humidity compartment, disposed in the bottom of the refrigeratorcompartment of a combination freezer-refrigerator, employs a drawersurrounded by a spaced sleeve. in order to permit the use of roller-typesuspension so that the drawer can slide freely in and out, the sleeve issealed against the side. back and front walls of the drawer. into thespace therebeneath cold air, whose flow is controlled by a damper. isducted from the freezer compartment and bathes the bottom wall and thelower portions of the side and backwalls of the drawer, the air exitingfrom the sleeve to join the air from the refrigerator compartmentreturning to the freezer compartment.

25 J A 5O I 3/ l 59 32 65 1 I r 58 47 he I I I 1 I I l i 1 1 A, J/ 1PATENTEUAUBZMQYI 3.600.905

SHEEI 1 [IF 3 THEODORE E owns! HERBERT a -suoscx ATTORNEY PATENIED M1624197a SHEET 3 0F 3 A T TORNE Y BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As is wellknown, it is desirable for the preservation of fresh foods, such asfruit and vegetables, that they be stored at temperatures somewhat belowthose for the storage of many other foods. When, as is the currentpractice in combination freezer refrigerators, flowing cold air from thefreezer compartment is also used to cool the refrigerator compartment,such air, because of its relative dryness, should not directly contactthe fresh foods else they be dried out and lose their freshness. Thefresh foods must thus be isolated from the desiccating effect of thecolder air so that they may be kept as moist as possible, yet bemaintained cool enough to prevent wilting. Sealed compartments, somewith doors and some with drawers, have heretofore been used for thispurpose; the food is isolated therein from the dry cold air, thusmaintaining a relatively high humidity in the compartment, while thewalls of the latter are chilled to keep the temperature of the food low.Since high-humidity storage is preferable at the bottom of therefrigerator compartment, so that the housewife must reach down foraccess to the stored food, a simple door at the front of a high-humiditycompartment at that location is not very convenient from the standpointsof both visibility and access to the foods. A sliding drawer isobviously much better in these respects, but it is difficult, withoutunacceptable costs and complexity, to provide a seal around the topedges of the drawer and at the same time have it freely slide in andout. Equipping the top edges of the drawer sidewalls with lips whichslide between closely fitting, vertically spaced guides, will provide aseal but will not, on account of friction and manufacturing tolerances,result in a freely sliding drawer. Hence the chief object of the presentinvention is to provide a relatively simple, inexpensive high humiditycompartment employing a drawer which is freely slidable, yet with itsinterior effectively sealed off from the cold air surrounding it,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The drawer forming the high-humiditycompartment of the present invention is slidable in and out of a sleevedefined essentially by the side, bottom and rear walls of therefrigerator compartment and a separate top wall. The sleeve spacedlyencompasses the side, rear and bottom walls of the drawer, the top sideedges of the latter having lips by which the drawer is suspended onfriction-free rollers for easy movement. Subfreezing air is ducted intothe sleeve and flows about the exposed walls of the drawer. In order toseal the interior of the latter from the sleeve, a horizontal gasket isprovided along the side and rear walls of the sleeve somewhat below thelevel of the rollers, the side portions of the gasket slidablycontacting the sidewalls of the drawer while the rear wall of the latterabuts the rear portion of the gasket. A frontpiece on the drawer issealed against the front face of the sleeve, whence none of the cold aircan find its way into the interior of the drawer. At the same time, thetop wall of the sleeve seals the interior of the drawer from contactwith the air in the refrigerator compartment and the construction of thesleeve is such that it may be removed piece by piece for cleaning.

In the particular embodiment shown and described hereinafter in detail,the high-humidity compartment is incorporated into a typical freezerrefrigerator ofthe side-by-side type. wherein the freezer andrefrigerator compartments are separated by a vertical partition wall anda single, isolated evaporator in the freezer compartment cools bothcompartments by means of a system of forced air circulation and ducts.The high-humidity compartment is located in the bot tom of therefrigerator compartment and cold air is ducted directly from thefreezer compartment through the partition wall and into the sleeve aboutthe drawer, the quantity of air being manually adjusted by means of adamper. The air is discharged from the sleeve adjacent the return airduct from the refrigerator to the freezer compartment. Thus, the forcetlair circulation through the refrigerator compartment during the on-cycleproduces a measure of forced air circulation through the sleeve. Duringthe off-cycle, gravitational movement of the cold air somewhataccomplishes the same thing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a front elevation of atypical freezer refrigerator of the side-by-side" type, the doors notbeing shown, embodying a high-humidity compartment according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view along the line 22 of FIG. I,certain portions being further broken away for clarity, showing thehigh-humidity compartment with its drawer partially open.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view along the line 33 of FIG. 2, thedrawer being shown in its fully closed position.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3,and illustrating the control damper in its two extreme settings.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the control damper itself.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As mentioned, the high-humiditycompartment is shown incorporated into a side-by-side"-type of freezerrefrigerator having a left-hand freezer compartment 10 and a right-handrefrigerator compartment 11 separated by a vertical partition wall 12.The single, fin coil evaporator 13, which cools both compartments I0 andII, is vertically disposed adjacent the bottom of the rear wall 14 ofthe freezer compartment It] be hind a panel 15 which terminates abovethe floor of compartment I0 to form an air inlet [6, and short of theroof of compairtment 10 to provide an air outlet 17. A suitable fan (notshown) provides air circulation over the evaporator [3 in the mannershown in FIG. I. A lateral duct 18 through the partition wall 12 behindthe panel 15 carries some of the chilled air through a thermocontrolleddamper assembly 19 into the refrigerator compartment 11, whence it flowsdownwardly and is returned to the evaporator I3 by another lateral duct20 through the partition wall 12 at the bottom of refrigeratorcompartment 1] rearward ofthe panel IS. A suitable thermostatic control21 governs operation of the refrigerant system (not shown).

As is typical, the refrigerator compartment II is formed by a linerproviding the refrigerant compartment inner sidewall 22, its bottom wall23 which is centrally dished, its outer sidewall 24 and rear wall 25,all bonded to foamed insulation 26. The high-humidity compartment,generally designated at 30, comprises a horizontal top wall 31, having ascall I l front edge 32, molded of suitable plastic and dis oscu betweenand abutting the compartment sidewalls 22 and 24 in spaced relation tothe compartment bottom wall 23. The top wall 31, which also forms ashelf, is supported by a pair of drawer carriers 33 along the respectivecompartment sidewalls 22 and 24. The drawer carriers 33, which aresubstantially mirror images of each other, consist of integral plasticmoldings having fore and aft extending side rails 34 terminating forwardof the compartment rear wall 25 and supported on fore-and-aft legs 35and 36 which sit upon the compartment bottom wall 23, the rails 34 beingremovably secured to the compartment sidewalls 22 and 24 by integrallymolded pins 39. The front pair of legs 35 are provided with transversesealing faces 40. the uppermost portions of which are cantileveredforwardly to form drawer stops 4]. The rear pair of legs 36 are providedwith arcuate rear corner walls 42 which terminate in opposed, verticallyslotted edges 43, the latter receiving therebetween a removable rearpanel 44 disposed somewhat forwardly of the return air duct 20 andprovided with an air outlet 45 adjacent the compartment sidewall 24. Thetop wall 31 fits on and is removahly interlocked, in any appropriatemanner at 46, with the side rails 34,

the rear corner walls 42 and the panel 44, thus forming an open frontdrawer sleeve 47 and, behind panel 44, a return air chamber 48. Byremoving the top wall 31, the rear panel 44 and then the drawer carriers33 can be removed piece by piece for cleaning. In order to provideaccess to the return air duct 20 from refrigerator compartment ll, thetop wall 31 is terminated forward of the compartment rear wall 25 toprovide an air inlet 49 to chamber 48, the inlet 49 being surmounted bya decorative flange 50 secured along the rear edge of top wall 31.

The inner face of each side rail 34 is provided with a pair ofhorizontally journaled drawer rollers 51 disposed at fore-andaft spacedinterruptions in a guide rib 52, integral with its respective rail 34,extending from the front leg 35 to the rear corner wall 42. A drawerretaining rib 53, also integral with its respective rail 34, is spacedabove the rollers 51 along the forward portion only of each rail 34. Therollers and the ribs 53 receive therebetween the sides of a lip 54 aboutthe top edge of a stamped metal food drawer 55, spaced above the linerbottom wall 23, having sidewalls 56, a rear wall 57, a bottom wall 58and a front wall 59, the rear corners being rounded concentric with therear corner walls 42. The drawer front wall 59 is provided with afrontpiece 60, having a handle 61, which extends down to the linerbottom wall 23 and laterally to the compartment sidewalls 22 and 24. Theexposed, lateral rear faces 62 of the frontpiece 60 are fitted withsuitable gaskets 63 which abut the sealing faces 40 on the front legs 35of the drawer carriers, and the upper edge of the frontpiece 60 isinwardly stepped at 64 to engage the drawer stops 4] and the forwardface of a transverse rib 65 along the scalloped front edge 32 of the topwall 31. Just below the drawer rollers Sl, the face of each rail 34opposite its respective compartment sidewall 22 and 24 is provided withan integral gasket mounting rib 66, while at the same level the otherfaces of rails 34 along their rear corner walls 42 are provided withsimilar integral ribs 660, the latter in turn abutting a rib 67, likerib 66, but located on the forward face of panel 44. To the ribs 66 areattached the edges of strips of flexible gasket material 68 whoseopposite edges slidably engage horizontal depressions 69 in thesidewalls 56 of the drawer 55. A similar gasket 70 attached by its edgeto the rib 67 abuts the drawer rear wall 57 while the rounded rearcorners of the drawer 55 abut blocks of resilient gasket material 71adhered to the ribs 66a Accordingly, when the drawer 55 is fully closed,the drawer stops 41, the gaskets 63 and the rib 65, on the one hand, andthe gaskets 68, 70 and 71, on the other, effectively seal the interiorof drawer 55 from the portion of sleeve 47 lying below the latter threegaskets The top wall 31, in turn, seals the interior of the drawer 55from contact with the air in the refrigerator compartment ll, and sincethe drawer suspension is simple and friction free, the drawer 55 itselfmay be readily removed. if desired, the side lips 54 ofthe drawer 55 maybe provided with two pairs of upsets (not shown) to engage the rollers51 when the drawer 55 is in its closed position in order to maintain itin sealing abutment against gaskets 63, 70 and 7l ln the particularillustrated embodiment, chilled air from the freezer compartment is fedto the sleeve 47 below gaskets 68, 70 and H through a short plastic duct72 foamed in place in the partition wall 12 adjacent its forward edge.The duct 72 opens into the freezer compartment 10 at 73 and then leadsdownwardly, opening through the compartment sidewall 22 at 74. Thequantity of air admitted to the sleeve 47 is controlled by a damper,generally designated at 75 The latter is an integral plastic moldinghaving an upper arm 76, a hub 77 and an offset, sector-shaped lowerblade 78. The hub is horizontally pivoted on a stub shaft 79 integralwith the lefthand side rail 34 adjacent its forward end so that one faceof the damper blade 78 is more or less in surface contact with theadjacent face of the compartment sidewall 22 and the inlet 74 thereinThe upper end of the arm 76 is slotted at 76a and pivotally and slidablyengages a pin 80a on a tang 80 depending from a slide control 81slidably mounted for and aft atop the forward end of the side rail 34.The slide 81 is provided with a manual grip 82 which is exposed througha rectangular aperture 83 in the scalloped portion 32 of the top wall31. Movement of the slide control 81 thus pivots damper about the stubshaft 79. The lower edge of the damper blade 78 is so curved that whenthe damper 75 is in the position shown in full lines in FIG. 4 and theslide control 81 is in its rearmost position, the damper blade 78 whollycovers the inlet 74, but as the slide control 81 is slid forwardly, theinlet 74 is progressively uncovered until fully opened, whence thedamper 75 is in the position shown in broken lines in FIG. 4. Finally, adepending deflector 84, formed integrally upon the lower edge of damperblade 78 and offset therefrom so that it is spaced from the compartmentsidewall 22, serves to direct the incoming air downwardly into the spacebetween the bottom walls 23 and 58 of the refrigerator compartment lland drawer 55, respectively. The deflector 84 also serves to preventcold air from impinging directly upon the drawer sidewall 56 and thuscausing localized freezing of the contents therein. Hence, the cold airfrom the freezer compartment H) can flow around and bathe the majorportion of the sidewalls 56 and the rear and bottom walls 57 and 58 ofthe drawer 55 before exiting through the outlet 45 in the rear panel 44to join the air from the refrigerator compartment ll entering thechamber 48 through the inlet 49 on its way through the duct 20 to thefreezer compartment 10. Gravity alone achieves some airflow in theaforesaid manner and this is augmented during the oncycle by the forcedairflow from the refrigerator compartment 11 through the chamber 48. Atthe same time, for the reasons previously explained, the interior of thedrawer is sealed from any contact with both the cold air flowing throughthe sleeve 47 and the air in the refrigerator compartment ll, whence thecontents are kept chilled but in a highly humid atmosphere. Thetemperature in the drawer 55 may, of course, be varied by adjustment ofthe damper 75 to admit more or less cold air into the sleeve 47.

While the invention has been shown as applied to a "sideby-side"-type offreezer refrigerator, being the best mode known of carrying out theinvention, it is also obviously applicable to other forms of twocompartment units merely by appropriately revising or relocating theduct 72 and the damper 75 Thus, the invention is not limited to theparticular embodiment shown and described herein in detail, and hencethe following claims are to be read as encompassing all adaptions andmodifications of the invention falling within the spirit and scopethereof.

We claim:

I. In refrigerating apparatus having a freezer compartment and an abovefreezing refrigerator compartment, said refrigerator compartment havingrear, side and bottom walls a highhumidity storage compartment disposedin said refrigerator compartment, said high-humidity compartmentincluding a drawer slidably mounted for horizontal movement from aclosed position outwardly to an open position for access thereto, asubfreezing airsleeve surrounding at least the bottom and sidewallsofsaid drawer in spaced relation thereto, the front of said drawerforming the front wall of and closing said sleeve when said drawer is inits closed position, and an air inlet to and an air outlet from saidsleeve communicating with said freezer compartment for circulation ofsubfreezing air therefrom through said sleeve around at least the sideand bottom walls of said drawer, the improvements in combinationtherewith comprising: means including rollers carried by said sleeveengaging the top edges of said drawer sidewalls and suspending saiddrawer in said sleeve for friction-free movement between said drawerpositions; and gasket means sealing the interior of said drawer fromcommunication with the cold air in said sleeve when said drawer is inits closed position, said gasket means including a pair of laterallyflexible gaskets car ried by said sleeve and sealingly engaging thesidewalls of said drawer below the top edges thereof, said drawersidewalls slidubly engaging and laterally flexing said gaskets duringsaid drawer movement.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said gasket means also includesgaskets abuttingly engaging the rear wall of said drawer, and furthergaskets abuttingly engaging the front of said sleeve and the front wallof said drawer, when said drawer is in its closed position,

3. The combination of claim 2 including damper means disposed withinsaid sleeve adjacent said sleeve air inlet for manually adjusting thequantity of air from said freezer compartment circulated through saidsleeve.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the bottom and sidewalls of saidrefrigerator compartment form respectively the bottom and sidewalls ofsaid sleeve, and said refrigerator and freezer compartments arelaterally disposed with respect to each other on the sides of apartition wall therebetween said partition wall adjacent the lower rearcorner thereof having a return air duct communicating with said freezerand refrigerator compartments, and wherein said sleeve includes abackwall forwardly of said return air duct, said sleeve air out letbeing disposed in said backwall remote from said partition wall and saidsleeve air inlet being disposed in said partition wall adjacent itsforward edge.

5, The combination of claim 4 wherein said gasket means also includesgaskets carried by said backwall and said drawer front abuttinglyengaging said sleeve backwall and the front of said sleeve,respectively, when said drawer is in its closed position.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said sleeve includes a manuallyadjustable damper therewithin adjacent said sleeve air inlet andpivotally mounted to progressively increase or decrease the quantity ofcold air admitted to said sleeve from said freezer compartment.

1. In refrigerating apparatus having a freezer compartment and an abovefreezing refrigerator compartment, said refrigerator compartment havingrear, side and bottom walls, a high-humidity storage compartmentdisposed in said refrigerator compartment, said high-humiditycompartment including a drawer slidably mounted for horizontal movementfrom a closed position outwardly to an open position for access thereto,a subfreezing airsleeve surrounding at least the bottom and sidewalls ofsaid drawer in spaced relation thereto, the front of said drawer formingthe front wall of and closing said sleeve when said drawer is in itsclosed position, and an air inlet to and an air outlet from said sleevecommunicating with said freezer compartment for circulation ofsubfreezing air therefrom through said sleeve around at least the sideand bottom walls of said drawer, the improvements in combinationtherewith comprising: means including rollers carried by said sleeveengaging the top edges of said drawer sidewalls and suspending saiddrawer in said sleeve for friction-free movement between said drawerpositions; and gasket means sealing the interior of said drawer fromcommunication with the cold air in said sleeve when said drawer is inits closed position, said gasket means including a pair of laterallyflexible gaskets carried by said sleeve and sealingly engaging thesidewalls of said drawer below the top edges thereof, said drawersidewalls slidably engaging and laterally flexing said gaskets duringsaid drawer movement.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said gasketmeans also includes gaskets abuttingly engaging the rear wall of saiddrawer, and further gaskets abuttingly engaging the front of said sleeveand the front wall of said drawer, when said drawer is in its closedposition.
 3. The combination of claim 2 including damper means disposedwithin said sleeve adjacent said sleeve air inlet for manually adjustingthe quantity of air from said freezer compartment circulated throughsaid sleeve.
 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the bottom andsidewalls of said refrigerator compartment form respectively the bottomand sidewalls of said sleeve, and said refrigerator and freezercompartments are laterally disposed with respect to each other on thesides of a partition wall therebetween, said partition wall adjacent thelower rear corner thereof having a return air duct communicating withsaid freezer and refrigerator compartments, and wherein said sleeveincludes a backwall forwardly of said return air duct, said sleeve airoutlet being disposed in said backwall remote from said partition walland said sleeve air inlet being disposed in said partition wall adjacentits forward edge.
 5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said gasketmeans also includes gaskets carried by said backwall and said drawerfront abuttingly engaging said sleeve backwall and the front of saidsleeve, respectively, when said drawer is in its closed position.
 6. Thecombination of claim 5 wherein said sleeve includes a manuallyadjustable damper therewithin adjacent said sleeve air inlet andpivotally mounted to progressively increase or decrease the quantity ofcold air admitted to said sleeve from said freezer compartment.